50 Years Ago: BEATLES CONTINUE FILMING AND RECORD TITLE TRACK

Work on the Beatles first film resumed at Twickenham Film Studios on Monday, April 13. George was filmed as he accidently wanders in the offices of a clothing company where he is mistaken for a male model and asked to give his opinion on some new shirts. George doesn’t like the shirts or the company’s fashion expert who appears on television. That afternoon, George is filmed showing the assistant road manager how to shave. John is filmed taking a bath and “disappearing” when the tub is emptied by the band’s road manager.

The next day filming continued with a scene of the Beatles stuck in a traffic jam. This sequence was not used in the movie. On Wednesday, the Beatles were filmed outside the Scala Theatre and in the near-by streets. That evening, Paul was interviewed for BBC television by David Frost, who in 1968 would feature film of the Beatles performing Hey Jude and Revolution at Twickenham on his TV show.

After day-time filming of the police chase scenes at Notting Hill Gate, the Beatles entered Abbey Road Studio on April 16 to record the title song of the film, A Hard Day’s Night. The song was primarily written by John, who got the title from a statement made by Ringo after a long day of filming. Apparently, Ringo was observing that it had been a hard day when he noticed it was now evening, so he ended up saying “It’s been a hard day’s night.” (The title was also similar to line from a short story in John’s book In His Own Write, which had recently been published. The actual line is “He’d hardly had a days night that day.”) The song A Hard Day’s Night would open and close the film, lead off the U.K. album containing songs from the film and be issued as a worldwide single.

On Friday, April 17, the Beatles returned to Les Ambassadeurs, where they were filmed dancing at a night club when they were supposed to be answering fan mail. That afternoon, the group was interviewed by Ed Sullivan. His interview would be broadcast on May 24, along with film of the Beatles performing a song intended for the movie.

The next day the Beatles were at Twickenham re-recording some of their dialog for scenes where the sound was not properly captured. On Sunday, April 19, the group went to IBC Studios to record songs for an upcoming TV special later named Around The Beatles. They recorded Roll Over Beethoven, I Wanna Be Your Man, Long Tall Sally, Can’t Buy Me Love, a medley of their first five singles and two songs associated with the Isley Brothers, one of which was never recorded for EMI.

Today’s questions cover the third week of April 1964.

In A Hard Day’s Night, what word does George use to describe the shirts shown to him by a fashion executive?

In A Hard Day’s Night, what song does John sing while playing with a submarine in the bath tub?

What was the name of John’s short story from his book In His Own Write that may have inspired Ringo’s line “It’s been a hard day’s night”?

In A Hard Day’s Night, what two songs are the Beatles shown dancing to?

What two Isley Brothers songs did the Beatles record for the television special Around The Beatles?